Press Information Bureau
Government Of India
Government Of India
Ministry of Labour & Employment
(22-July, 2015 16:16 IST )
(22-July, 2015 16:16 IST )
Concluding Session of 46th ILC
The 46th session of
India Labour Conference concluded Yesterday at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi where
the recommendations and conclusions were adopted on 5 chosen agenda items after
the at length tripartite deliberations which lasted 2 days.
In his concluding remarks, the
chairman of the ILC and Labour and Employment Minister of state (Independent
Charge) , Shri Bandaru Dattatreya reiterated his Governments commitment to
reform process with tripartite consensus to promote the employment generation
at a massive scale particularly for the aspiring youth population of this
country.
Implementation of the conclusions/ recommendations of the 43rd, 44th and
45th Indian labour conference, particularly on contract labour,
Minimum wages and scheme workers and tripartite mechanism Conclusions of the
committee are as follows:-
The
committee debated the recommendations of the 43rd, 44th and
45th Indian labour conference at length and expressed its
concern over non-implementation of the conclusions, particularly on contract
labour, Minimum wages, scheme workers and tripartism. It was therefore
unanimously recommended that concrete measures should be undertaken to
expeditiously implement the recommendations in letter and spirit. Periodic
reviews should be undertaken by the stakeholders.
Recommendations of conference committee on “social
security for organized, unorganized and migrant International workers”
There was an in-principle agreement for coverage of all
workers organized as well as unorganized under social security with support
wage by Government, if required, for providing decent living conditions. The
committee recommended that:
I. Mechanism
for identification and registration of unorganized workers should be provided.
Special drive should be launched for the said purpose and, if required, direct
registration by the Government.
II. Schemes
for organized/ unorganized workers should be made efficient.
III. Budgetary
provisions should be made for those unorganized workers who are not covered
under any specific social security scheme.
IV. The
cost of registration of unorganized workers should be borne by the Central/
State Government.
V. There
should be proper utilization of fund collected through building construction
cess and administrative expensed should not be for what is not stipulated.
VI. The
Anganwadi/ Asha/ Mid-day meal and other such workers, the committee
reiterated that they should be extended coverage under ESI/ EPF.
VII. As
regards ESIC, the following recommendations were given:-
a. ESIC to expand to
cover all states/ UTs. All districts where scheme is running at present should
be covered fully/
b. The ESIC scheme to be
expanded to unorganized sector by reducing the threshold form present 10. Self
employed should be provided medical benefit, in phases.
c. The ESIC should
directly run the health services in all the states. Stated should not be asked
to bear the cost of Medical expenses.
d. Medical Facilities should be
expanded at a fast pace; establishments of hospitals and dispensaries should be
decided based on geographical necessity.
e. All construction
workers should be covered under ESI.
f. ESI coverage for round
the clock for medical benefit.
VIII. As regards
EPF, recommendations were:-
a. Medical Scheme to EPS
pensioners from the surplus Corpus of EDLI Scheme.
b. Extension of coverage by
reducing threshold form 20 to 10. ‘Member of LUB opposed this’
c. Coverage of both
inter-state and international migrant workers under EPF Act.
d. EPF pension should be
enhanced and linked with price index.
IX.
Wages definition should be uniform for all labour laws.
X. There
should be a mechanism so that employers can deposit social security
contributions at single window.
XI.
For construction workers, there should be a single contribution from employer.
XII. Implementation of the
decisions taken by 43rd, 44th and 45th ILC
with regard to Social Security.
However, on the point of
optional schemes for ESI & EPF, the employee’s representatives strongly
opposed whereas the employers representatives were of the view that options
should be available.
Removal of Conditions on
payment Ceiling eligibility Limits, Decisions to pay Minimum Bonus without
linking to loss when the performance indicator satisfy grant of bonus- The
major conclusions emanating from the discussions in the committee are as
follows:
The Conference committee on
amendment of Bonus Act – Removal of Conditions on Payment Ceiling, Eligibility
Limits. Decisions to pay Minimum Bonus without linking to loss when the
performance indicator satisfy grant of bonus constituted to discuss the Agenda
item No. 3 of 46th session of the Indian Labour Conference met
under the chairmanship of Captain Abhimanyu, Minister of Labour, Govt. of
Haryana. Shri Om Prakash Mittal, General Secretary, Laghu Udyog Bharti (LUB)
and Ms. Meenakshi Gupta and Mr. B.B. Mallick, Joint Secretary, MoLE
respectively were the Vice-Cheirman and Member Secretary of the Committee. The
Committee had the representation of all the stake-holders (Workers’ Group,
Employers’ Group and State Government).
2. At the very outset, the chairman of the
committee welcomed all the representatives. He observed that the issue of bonus
has been pending for long. He expressed the hope that all the partners would
understand and appreciate the position of each other and give recommendations
keeping in the view the larger national interest. The Vice-Chairman also
welcomed all the Members. Thereafter, the Member Secretary introduced the
subject. The agenda has following 3 issues:-
(i). Removal
of calculation ceiling;
(ii). Removal
of Eligibility Limit; and
(iii). Decisions
to pay Minimum Bonus without Linking to loss when the performance indicator
satisfy grant of bonus.
3. It was mentioned that last revision in the limits
(Calculation Ceiling – Rs. 3500 and Eligibility Limit-RS. 10,000) was done in
2007 based on the recommendations of the 41st ILC.
4. The committee had very intense detailed
discussions on all the aspects of the Agenda Item no. 3.
(i). The
Trade Unions were of the view that all the ceilings under the payment of Bonus
Act. 1965 i.e. eligibility ceiling, calculation ceiling and maximum percent of
bonus payable need to be removed. They further expressed that they would like
to reiterate the stand taken by them in the tripartite meeting held on 20
October, 2014.
(ii). The
Employers, representatives were of the view that total removal of various
ceilings may lead to spurt in industrial relation issues. They observed that
while making any change in the payment of Bonus Act, 1965 productivity of the
workers and paying capacity of the employers have to be taken into account.
They further observed that they are not in favour of indexation of cost of
living for the purpose of ceiling and bonus calculation. The term ‘Employee’
should be substituted by the term ‘workman’ as defined under the industrial
disputes Act. The present system of prescribing limits both for eligibility and
calculation should be retained.
(iii). The
State Government representatives were of the view that minimum, limit of bonus
(8.33%) may continue. Regarding limits with regard to calculation and payment
ceiling it was stated that they had no comments to offer. They further observed
that distinction between statutory bonus and productivity linked bonus is quite
relevant in this regard.
(iv). The
State Government representatives also suggested that the central Government may
consider notifying the limits for eligibility of bonus and calculation of bonus
through and administrative process based on tripartite mechanism rather then
legislative process every time. Appropriate amendment to the payment of Bonus
Act, 1965 may have to be carried out accordingly.
Labour laws Amendments proposed/ done by central or
State Governments Conclusions of the committee are as follows:-
1. The committee reiterates historical role of
tripartite mechanism functioning in the country before any enactment/ amendment
of labour laws.
2. Any labour law amendments/ enactment should
take into account three purpose namely:
(i).
Rights and welfare of workers;
(ii). Sustainability
of enterprises and job creation; and
(iii). Industrial
peace.
3. The labour laws need to be relooked and
updated in a time bound manner.
4. Committee recommends that the overall
exercise of the labour law amendments should be discussed in the tripartite
forum and the broad and specific proposals should also be discussed in
tripartite meetings.
Recommendations of committee on “Employment and
Employment Generation” of 46 the Indian Labour conference (ILC) are as
follows:-
1. The committee noted that the
recommendations of 43rd to 45th ILC on
Employment & Employability need to be fully implemented.
2. Recognising the employment
potential in micro and small industry, especially in rural areas, an effective
single-window system be established to promoted agro-based and micro &
small industries with facility like concessional finance etc. A system for
centralized marketing of products manufactured by these industries can also be
developed.
3. Enhance the outlays and threshold
for public employment generation programmes in both rural and urban areas.
4. Fill up vacant posts in
Central Government, State Governments and Public Sector Undertakings in a time
bound manner.
5. Reiterate the necessity for
publishing quarterly employment and unemployment data.
6. With Central and State
Government moving to on-line systems for employment exchanges there is a need
for capacity building of Employment Exchanges officers for their revised roles
under National Career Service (NCS). Need for integration of Central and State
IT initiatives to avoid duplication.
7. Utilization of idle capacity
in Vocational and Educational Institutions and closed/ sick industry for demand
responsive training.
8. Enhance and expand areas for
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) with effective assessment.
9. Enhance number and improve
quality of assessors for vocational training and consider including ITI faculty
for assessments.
10. To identify labour-intensive industries
and new areas where jobs can be created like renewable energy and reusable
resources etc. and providing employment liked training.
11. Evolve strategies for increasing
female workforce participation in both public and private employment.
YSK/Uma
(Release ID :123527)
Source
: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/mbErel.aspx?relid=123527
